The holiday home - once owned by the record producer Mickie Most - boasts an elegant swimming pool and terrace, panoramic views of the Mediterranean and its own private chef.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show the corporation spent £90,530 in just three years, hiring the villa on five separate occasions. The BBC admitted to using the villa twice a year for "at least seven or eight years" - although figures on its cost are available only since 2006.

The BBC paid £73,838 to use the villa on just three separate occasions between October 2006 and October 2008 and a further £16,692 on travel and hospitality' during two stays in 2008 and 2009. The total cost of the villa, paid for out of licence payers money, is likely to be more than a quarter of a million pounds.

One TV executive who was a guest at the villa said: "It is a complete jolly. It is just wrong. They could stay in a hotel for 80 Euros a night."

John Whittingdale, the Tory chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, said: "It does beg the question as to whether it is really necessary for the BBC to commit that amount of money in order to find commercial partners.

"You don't really have to put people up in a five-star villa in Cannes. At a time when the BBC is claiming to be short of cash, it does seem somewhat extravagant."

The BBC hires the villa twice a year - in April and in October - for the five-day MipTV and Mipcom events which attracts television executives from around the world, negotiating deals for the financing and selling of projects and programmes.

The BBC insisted the villa was good vale for money, pointing out the corporation's Commercial Agency raises more than £80 million a year in investment for programmes from co-production partners, distributors and publishers.

In a statement the BBC said: "Mip and Mipcom are the main markets at which this business is conducted and hiring a villa has proved a cost-effective way of accommodating BBC staff and entertaining clients, distribution and co-production partners from around the world in support of this business."

A spokesman said the villa was being looked at gain for this October's Mipcom event, adding: "It's a fair spend."

Hunt: Pressure over conflict of interest

The disclosure is deeply embarrassing for the BBC and follows the furore caused by the huge wages and expenses paid to its senior executives. Mark Thompson, the director general, was paid £834,000 last year while racking up an additional £77,000 in expenses since 2004.

In the latest row to hit the corporation, it emerged over the weekend that Jay Hunt, who earns £280,000 a year as Controller of BBC1, is involved in running a private company which provides training to the broadcaster.

Ms Hunt, 42, is listed as the company secretary of BrightsparkTV which charges thousands of pounds for training presenters who work for the channel.

The company is run by Ms Hunt's husband Ian Blandford, 40 and made a pre-tax profit of more than £117,000 last year.